Ease in Covid curbs

It is happy news that will bring smiles to many faces long-inured to restrictions caused by the contagious coronavirus pandemic disease. The NCOC has announced lifting of more curbs necessitated by the need to prevent the fast spreading Covid-19 following a significant improvement in the situation pertaining to the pandemic. The new regulations will be effective from July 1 till July 31. The relaxations will mostly benefit the working classes and small businesses, who have suffered the most due to off-and-on imposition of restrictions.

Business centres are to be allowed to stay open till 10pm; increased attendance of guests at wedding ceremonies and other social gatherings is to be permitted. This will provide the much-needed relief to those working at marriage halls and lawns. Increased attendance at these venues has been made conditional to vaccination certificates. This is aimed at ensuring increased vaccination. Public transport will be allowed with increased capacity. Swimming pools and recreational spots will have to take in people at 50% capacity, and entry into gyms will be subject to having received anti-Covid jabs. The vaccine condition will also apply to cinemas with restricted timings. Shrines will be allowed with strict adherence to SOPs. The NCOC has left it to the discretion of provincial governments whether to keep educational institutions open or not. The situation will be reviewed on July 27. However, even in the improved conditions we should not lower our guards in view of a surge in the new Delta variant of Covid-19 in various parts of the world. This makes it all the more necessary to keep a watchful eye on places where people congregate in large numbers.

There are complaints of non-availability of AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines, which have been mandatory for people travelling to Middle Eastern and European countries for jobs and other purposes. This has led to disturbances at government hospitals in Islamabad. The shortage has been caused because rich countries pre-bought them. The world is full of faults.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 30^th, 2021.

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